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Updated 10-16-08
Teresa de Cartagena
(mid-1400s)
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"AN ISLAND... WHERE I HAVE LIVED FOR SO MANY YEARS---IF
LIFE THIS CAN BE CALLED."
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A great deal is known about Teresa de Cartagena's family, and very little is known about her. Her grandfather, Salomon Ha-Levi, was a converso; chief rabbi of Burgos, he converted to Christianity from Judaism in 1390 and was named Pablo de Santa Maria. He became bishop of Cartagena (hence the family name) and later of Burgos. His sons and grandsons became active in Castilian politics, in literature and in the church. The family's members were prominent enough not to be affected by the anti-converso statutes that began to be enacted in Spain in 1449 and that would force many converted Jews from public office.
Teresa was born at Burgos, after 1423, to Pedro de Cartagena (1387-1478), a royal counselor. She was one of seven children; traditionally, with her two sisters she would have educated at home and then perhaps sent to a convent school. She entered a Franciscan monastery in Burgos, probably as a teenager. She tells us that she was "at the University of Salamanca" for a few years; no woman could have been officially a student, but she may have received tutoring there, perhaps at a Franciscan house of study. In 1449 she transferred from the Franciscans to a Cistercian monastery, probably also in Burgos. However, she never speaks of her fellow religious in her writing; rather, she sees herself as belonging to a "convent of the suffering."
At some point, perhaps after 1449, Teresa lost all of her hearing, apparently through illness. Twenty years later, she wrote Arboleda de los enfermos (Grove of the infirm), in which it is clear that she was still struggling to accept her loss and make some sense of her experience. The work was addressed to a "virtuous lady," but its larger audience was all who suffer serious illness or physical infirmity.
Her treatise was widely enough read to prompt a reaction --- from those who were surprised that she could write anything worthwhile and from those who, since it was in fact well written, assumed that someone else must have been the author. This reaction brought Teresa's second treatise, Admiracion operum Dey (Wonder at the works of God), in which she defends her authorship by suggesting that her critics are denying God's power, which she then goes on to illustrate.
According to the manuscript's copyist, this second work was written at the request of Juana de Mendoza y Gomez Manrique (d.1498), an attendant to a princess and the wife of a major political and literary figure. She may also have been the "virtuous lady" of the first book, but that is not certain.
The extant manuscripts were made in 1481; the brief introduction by the copyist doesn't indicate whether Teresa was still alive at that time.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print.
Information about secondary sources.
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1. In English:
(a) From near the beginning of Admiracion operum Dey, Teresa explains to Juana de Mendoza (the wife of the Gomez Manrique mentioned in the excerpt) why she has written this second work; the translation is by Caroline Wilson. The original Spanish is also given.
(b) In the Wikipedia entry on Teresa, a later passage from Admiracion, again speaking of the public reaction to the publication of Arboleda de los enfermos, "People marvel at what I wrote in the treatise...."; here the translation is by by Dayle Seidenspinner-Nunez.
2. At the bottom of the page, two excerpts in Spanish from
the opening
of Arboleda: the first on Teresa's annoyance with
people who want her to speak even if she can't hear, although
"speech is pointless without hearing"; the second on
her belief that God wanted her to listen to "the voice of
holy doctrine that Scripture teaches."
3. Brief notes from Karen Louise Jolly on Teresa,
her converso grandfather, and her father.
4. An English-language abstract of a 2006 Spanish-language dissertation by Yonsoo Kim on Teresa's "understanding of illness and exclusion."
5. The publisher's description of Seidenspinner-Nunez's 1998 translation, The Writings of Teresa de Cartagena (for excerpts, see under "In print").
6. Sara A Taddeo's review (with an error, not Taddeo's, on the location of Teresa's home) of Ronald E. Surtz' 1995 study, Writing Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain: The Mothers of Saint Teresa of Avila (for information on Surtz' treatment of Teresa, see "Secondary sources").
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[Dayle Seidenspinner-Nunez has translated both of Teresa de Cartagena's works; the translator's introduction and notes are helpful, and the bibliography will lead you to the few earlier studies in English. (The introduction's biographical information, however, has been updated in a 2004 article co-written by Seidenspinner-Nunez; for information on that, see under "Secondary sources".) An interpretive essay by Seidenspinner-Nunez discusses the ways by which Teresa establishes her authority to write. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The writings of Teresa de Cartagena / translated with introduction,
notes, and interpretive essay [by] Dayle Seidenspinner-Nunez
(Library of medieval women). Cambridge [England] ; Rochester,
N.Y.: D.S. Brewer, 1998. (x, 152 p.)
LC#: BX2186 .T47213 1998; ISBN: 0859914461
Includes bibliographical references (p. [139]-148) and index.
Arboleda de los enfermos
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"Thus in this exile and shadowy banishment...."
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[Teresa speaks of God's illumination, but that illumination is open to all; she never claims any visionary experience. The opening:]
Long ago, virtuous lady, the cloud of temporal and human sadness
covered the borders of my life and with a thick whirlpool of
anguished suffering carried me off to an island... where I have
lived for so many years --- if life this can be called --- without
ever seeing anyone to direct my steps onto the road of peace
or show me a path whereby I could arrive to any community of
pleasures.
Thus in this exile and shadowy banishment, feeling myself more
in a sepulchre than a dwelling, it pleased the mercy of the Most
High to illuminate me with the light of His compassionate grace....
And with my understanding enlightened and the cloud of my heavy sadness dispelled..., I saw that this island, indeed, was a good and healthful dwelling place for me. And although this island cannot be populated with residents --- for you will find few people or none willing to dwell here since it is so sterile of temporal pleasures and dry of vainglories and the fount of human honors is far away indeed --- it can be populated with groves of good counsel and spiritual consolation....
And since my suffering is of such a treacherous nature that it prevents me from hearing good as well as bad counsel,... I must recur to my books, which have wonderful graftings from healthful groves.... [pp.23-24]
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"Those two enemies, which are my wanting and my not being
able...."
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[For almost twenty years, Teresa had rebelled against her deafness; now she accepts it (most of the time) and wants to use her experience to help others. She speaks to God:]
What I used to call my crucifixion, I now call my resurrection. Now are my two enemies reconciled, my desire and my suffering.... For you not only cut me off from the dangerous mob of worldly distractions but you have removed from me my desire, agonizing but undying, your mercy sparing me a lengthy battle between those two enemies, which are my wanting and my not being able....
Certainly these words thanking God for having removed all my obstacles and hindrances should be a very helpful example for others. [p.29]
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"...the other is to preach to the people."
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[Because of her deafness, Teresa finds no pleasure in trying to speak to others; but she can write, and in writing she can praise God and she can preach:]
[W]hen I find myself in the company of others, I am completely
forsaken, for I cannot profit from the joy of companionship nor
from the speech of those around me nor from myself.... And where
hearing fails, what good is speech? One is left dead and completely
isolated. [p.25]
So with reason I am angered when people beg me and say, "Go
to so-and-so, for they want to see you and even though you cannot
hear them, they will hear you." And while I understand that
this is said in good friendship and innocence without any malice,
nevertheless it still annoys me, knowing as I do that speech
is pointless without hearing....
Thus language by itself is only valuable in two ways: one is to praise and bless God, the other is to preach to the people, for these two things one can do without any reply. [p.27]
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"What I do want is to involve myself in worldly activities."
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[Teresa sees --- or at least is trying to see --- her deafness as a good thing, leading her away from the world and toward God. She compares suffering to a bit and a bridle used to control an unruly animal:]
A good and lasting ailment is a bridle to humble the proud neck and a bit to constrain desires dangerous and injurious to the soul....
What I do want is to involve myself in worldly activities, and what I do not want is solitude or isolation from them. Well, if I examine my suffering, its intention is better than mine, for it wants my salvation, and I want my perdition; it wants to withdraw me from dangers, and I want to cast myself into them....
Oh bit and bridle of my healthful suffering! If so far you have been dragging me badly behind you, now I want to willingly follow you! [pp.34-35]
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"...with whom I have signed a pledge of sisterhood."
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[The treatise is written for the sick; Teresa sees them all as belonging to a single religious order:]
If by glorying in our sufferings we can bring to our soul
such a good guest as the virtue of Christ, no invalid should
be sad; for this reason alone, leaving aside other regards, we
who have been professed in the convent of afflictions should
rejoice. [p.42]
It is, therefore, good for us to flee from such damaging joys
[as human pleasures], especially the sick with whom I have signed
a pledge of sisterhood. I address and admonish only the sick,
sad and sorrowful with their ailments and suffering.... [p.45]
[I]f Patience does not rule and order the convent of the suffering,
all our afflictions and our travail would be fruitless.
[p.47]
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"His own father and mother will dispatch him quickly from
their house...."
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[In showing how illness can help conquer sin, Teresa speaks of pride in family, a very Spanish concern of the period:]
Suffering combats the first root of pride --- the glorification of great ancestors and family --- in this manner: even if one is the son of a duke, an admiral, or a marquis, if he is inflicted with great suffering or an embarrassing wound, not only will his friends and relatives hold him in contempt, but his own father and mother will dispatch him quickly from their house and put him where he can cause them no detriment or disorder.
And even though he is the firstborn, he will be considered as lastborn, not only among his own relatives or peers but among the lesser servants; he will be despised by all and not held the equal of the least of them.
Well, who can take pride in what rejects him? [p.59]
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"No matter how subtle his intellect, he can only exercise
it for himself."
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[And on how suffering combats pride in one's intellect:]
And do not think that suffering overlooks a great mind, for however learned or quick-witted one may be, suffering puts him in such straits that neither his good sense nor that of his neighbors can help him.
How much worse is the affliction or suffering if one loses one's hearing or one's speech, for no matter how subtle his intellect, he can only exercise it for himself; and never fear that he may use his mind in vainglory, for his very illness safeguards him from such an occasion. [p.59]
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"It is tiresome and annoying...."
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[Teresa writes about the necessity of patience, but she makes it quite clear that she does not mean unrelenting cheerfulness:]
[S]ome people are so deceived that they judge the natural feeling and pain one experiences from suffering as impatience, and they call dissembling and feigned happiness in hardships patience. This is as contrary to the truth as it is tiresome and annoying to the suffering, for instead of being consoled, they are reviled and accused of not having patience. [p.74]
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"We should neither heed nor fear the abuse of people."
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[Near the end, Teresa prepares to write about the theology of the virtue of patience, based on her own thought rather than on earlier authorities. This was a risky affair for a woman or for any non-theologian in 1400s Spain, so she offers simultaneously offers her apology, her justification, and --- interestingly --- her university credentials:]
[T]his may not be proven and demonstrated as well as it should, due to my weak judgment; for my limited faculty and the few years that I was at the University of Salamanca, while they make me fully responsible for the simplicity of what I said above, grant me no wisdom in what I want to say now.
However, in spiritual matters we should neither heed nor fear the abuse of people nor desire their praise but rather continue our devout works with good intention until we arrive as far as our strength allows. [pp.80-81]
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Admiracion operum Dey
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"To me it seems offensive and clear that they offer me scathing
insults."
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[In the opening, Teresa describes the reaction to her first work, Arbolea de los enfermos:]
Many times, virtuous lady, I have been informed that some prudent men and also discreet women have marveled at a treatise that, with divine grace directing my weak womanly understanding, was written by my hand. And since it is a brief work of little substance, I am amazed, for it is hard to believe that prudent men would would marvel so at such an insignificant thing.
But if their wonder is certain, my offense is clear, since apparently their awe does not result from the merits of my text but from the defects of its author; as we see from experience when someone of simple and crude understanding says something meaningful, we marvel not because the saying itself is worthy of awe but because the person is so reprobate and held in such low esteem that we do not expect anything good from him....
And although it is said that their wonder is flattering, to me it seems offensive and clear that they offer me scathing insults and not empty praise.... [pp.87-88]
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"This can ruin the substance of my writing."
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[Some are not marveling, but rather asserting that Arbolea de los enfermos had been written by someone else; this is more serious because Arbolea's goal was to show other afflicted persons that they --- like Teresa --- could produce something of value:]
However, there is something else I must not permit, for truth does not allow it: apparently not only do prudent men marvel at my treatise but some cannot believe that, indeed, I could do any good at all. ...[T]his can ruin the substance of my writing and undermine greatly the benefit and grace that God wrought for me. [p.88]
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"...and thus the one preserves and helps the other."
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[Teresa's purpose is to show that God can do anything (and so can allow a woman to write a treatise), but in the process she speaks of the relationship between men and women. Here she compares it to that of the parts of a tree:]
And if you observe well the plants and trees, you will see how their outer bark or cortex is very robust and strong and resistant to the weather, to tempest and water and ice, and heat and cold. They are made in such a way that their firm and resilient bark protects the inner core or medulla enclosed within.
And thus in this order the one works for the other, for the strength and hardness of the bark protects and preserves the medulla by resisting on the outside the inclemencies of the weather. The medulla, encased because it is weak and delicate, works inwardly and gives power and vigor to the bark; and thus the one preserves and helps the other and gives us each year the diversity and abundance of fruits that we see. [p.91]
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"Yet no one marvels if men write books or compendious treatises."
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[On God's ability to make even "simple and crude intellects" into (male) theologians:]
And thus it follows that when we see that God has made something from nothing, we shall praise His omniscience; and when we see that He has made great things from little things, we shall praise His magnificence; and when we see that God makes simple and crude intellects learned guardians of His law, we shall praise His eternal wisdom;...
Thus heavily burdened with human concerns some people marvel --- or have marveled --- and even consider it doubtful or impossible that a woman can write treatises or compose a meaningful book that may be good.
Yet no one marvels if men write books or compendious treatises, for this is attributed to the very brain and sufficiency of understanding of the male author and to the great and "natural" learning that he knows; and nothing is said about the glory of God, nor do I think they remember whence came this "natural" knowledge that men acquire in their studies, and even those who know these subjects do not remember from where they got their knowledge nor who taught them. [pp.98-99]
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"I had no other master nor consulted... nor translated...."
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[To deny Teresa's sole authorship of her first treatise is to deny God's gift:]
People marvel at what I wrote in the treatise and I marvel at what, in fact, I kept quiet, but I do not marvel doubting nor do I insist on my wonder. For my experience makes me sure, and God of truth knows that I had no other master nor consulted with any other learned authority nor translated from other books, as some people with malicious wonder are wont to say. Rather, this alone is the truth: that God of all knowledge, Lord of all virtues, Father of mercy, God of every consolation, He who consoles us in all our tribulation, He alone consoled me, He alone taught me, He alone read me. [pp.102-103]
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"In order to know and praise and recount this to the people...."
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[At the end, after identifying herself as a sinner among sinners:]
And thus God is wonderful with His saints, for He gives them virtue and fortitude, and He is wonderful with His sinners, for He gives us mercy and grace to sustain and endure and our misfortunes to recognize His great blessings.
And in order to know and praise and recount this to the people, whoever has a devout desire and a pressing thirst to learn and acquire healthful learning, let him come to God's school of patience.... [p.112]
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[This anthology gives substantial excerpts from Admiracion operum Dey, translated by Ana Menendez Collera; most usefully, the Spanish original is given for each excerpt. The introduction is brief but useful. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Water lilies = Flores del agua: an anthology of Spanish women
writers from the fifteenth through the nineteenth century / Amy
Katz Kaminsky, editor. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota
Press, c1996. (xix, 494 p. ; 26 cm.)
LC#: PQ6173 .W38 1996; ISBN: 0816619441, 0816619468
Includes bibliographical references (p. 493-494).
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[Joseph T. Snow's essay in this collection, "Speaking
Through Many Voices: Polyphony in the Writings of Teresa de Cartagena,"
discusses Teresa's rhetorical use of a variety of voices ---
biblical and religious writers, the collective of the infirm,
her critics (especially in Arboleda), and herself at different
periods of her life --- that work together to create a unique
writing style. Also of interest is E. Michael Gerli's
essay, "The Converso Condition: New Approaches to
an Old Question," which briefly (pp. 7-9) considers the
degree of influence that Teresa's converso status may
have had upon her writing. In both essays, quoted passages are
not translated but their meaning is usually made clear in context.
(See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Medieval Iberia: changing societies and cultures in contact and
transition / edited by Ivy A. Corfis, Ray Harris-Northall (Coleccion
Tamesis. Serie A, Monografias; 247). Woodbridge; Rochester, NY:
Tamesis, 2007. (xviii, 191 p.)
LC#: DP53.I2 M39 2007; ISBN: 9781855661516
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[Dayle Seidenspinner-Nunez and Yonsoo Kim describe two 1449 documents that call into question earlier biographies of Teresa. The authors suggest that her deafness occurred after 1449 and that Arboleda was written in the 1470s. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
Seidenspinner-Nunez, Dayle and Yonsoo Kim. Historicizing Teresa:
Reflections on new documents regarding Sor Teresa de Cartagena.
Coronica: A journal of medieval spanish language and literature,
32:2 (2004). 121-50.
LC#: PQ6057 .C6; ISSN: 0193-3892
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[This article by Clara Castro-Ponce (translated by Judith Sutera) looks at two passages from Arboleda and one from Admiracion operum Dey to show the intellectual and non-visionary nature of Teresa's "imitation of Christ." Quoted passages are given in Sutera's translation. (See, near the bottom of the page, the issue's table of contents online.):]
Castro-Ponce, Clara. Imitatio Christi in the writings
of Teresa of Cartagena. Magistra: A journal of women's spirituality
in history. 9.2 (2003), 55-65.
LC#: BX4210 .M224; ISSN: 1079-7572
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[This collection includes an essay by Encarnacion Juarez,
"The Autobiography of the Aching Body in Teresa de Cartagena's
Arboleda de los enfermos," which discusses Teresa's
disability --- both her deafness and the social stigma it represented
--- as providing not only the impetus but also the form of her
first work. A CD enclosed with the book provides XML and ASCII
versions of the text. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Disability studies: enabling the humanities / edited by Sharon
L. Snyder, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson.
New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2002. (xiii,
386 p.: ill.; 24 cm. + 1 CD-ROM (4 3/4 in.)
LC#: HV1568.2 .D594 2002; ISBN:0873529804, 0873529812
Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-371) and index
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[Joan F. Cammarata's article discusses the contents of Teresa's two works and the stylistic devices she used to justify her writing. Cammarata's notes provide a useful summary of non-English language studies. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
Cammarata, Joan F. "Teresa de Cartagena: Writing from
a silent space in a silent world. Monographic review = Revista
monográfica, 16 (2000), 38-51.
LC#: PQ6001 .M66; ISSN: 0885-7512
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[Elizabeth Teresa Howe's article discusses how Teresa treated her deafness and her role as a woman and how this treatment facilitated her use of her entendimiento, her understanding. Spanish quotations are not translated, but the discussion makes their meaning clear. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
Howe, Elizabeth Teresa. "Sor Teresa de Cartagena and
entendimiento." Romanische Forschungen;
Organ fur romanische Sprachen, Volks-und Literaturen, 108
(1996), 133-145.
LC#: PC3 .R5; ISSN: 0035-8126
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[Ronald E. Surtz' study includes a chapter on Teresa de Cartagena, which focuses on Admiracion, but also briefly treats Arboleda. Surtz' introductory chapter is a useful overview of women's life and writing in the period; the notes and bibliography are detailed:]
Surtz, Ronald E. Writing women in late medieval and early
modern Spain: the mothers of Saint Teresa of Avila (Middle Ages
series). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c1995.
(223p.)
LC#: BX1584 .S87 1995; ISBN: 0812232925
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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[This article by Deborah S. Ellis analyzes Teresa's use of images of the house and the family. Quotations are not translated, but the context explains them:]
Ellis, Deborah S. "Unifying imagery in the works of Teresa
de Cartagena: Home and the dispossessed." Journal of
Hispanic philology, 17:1 (Fall 1992), 43-53.
LC#: PC4001 .J68; ISSN: 0147-5460
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[An essay in this collection,"Spain's First Women Writers," by Alan Deyermond, includes a discussion of Teresa's life and of both her works:]
Women in Hispanic literature: icons and fallen idols / edited
by Beth Miller. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1983.
(viii, 373 p.)
LC#: PQ6048.W6 W65 1983; ISBN: 0520042913, 0520043677
Includes bibliographical references and index
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Updated 10-16-08